Join the conversation

June 28th, 2017 by cshriver | Comments Off on Visit the Chung Collection exhibition

The Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection, one of our most well-known and beloved special collections, contains material related to three broad and interrelated themes: early British Columbia history, immigration and settlement and the Canadian Pacific Railway Company. The collection contains a wide variety of documents, photographs, books, artifacts and maps related to each of these themes.

Selections from the collection are on display in RBSC, organized to show some of the most compelling stories of Canada’s past.

Early B.C. history:

Related to early B.C. history are rare editions of the narratives of many Pacific voyages of discovery including Valdes, Galiano, Malaspina, Cook and Vancouver. The exhibition also features charts recording the exploration of the Pacific Northwest.

Immigration and settlement:

The Fraser River gold rush that sparked Chinese immigration to British Columbia is highlighted through books and government documents relating to the restriction of such immigration. Chinese-Canadian cultural, social and economic life is displayed through archival documents, photographs and artifacts.

European immigration to Canada is illustrated with promotional brochures and posters encouraging settlers to the West, and archival material from the Clandonald colony in Alberta, a community of immigrants from the Scottish Hebrides.

Canadian Pacific Railway:

Documents, maps and publications show how the Canadian Pacific Railway was built, and how Vancouver was chosen as the western terminus. Photographs and accounts of the building of the railway are presented, along with vibrant posters promoting travel and tourism via C.P.R. rail and steamships. Beautiful examples of cruise ship memorabilia provide a glimpse of the style of the times.

The exhibition is open to the public, free of charge during Rare Books and Special Collections opening hours (Monday through Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.). Also, there is a drop-in tour of the Chung Collection room available every Thursday at 10 a.m. We hope to welcome you for a visit soon!

June 28th, 2017 by cshriver | Comments Off on Harry Potter at UBC Library

Happy 20th anniversary of the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone!

Though it’s hard to believe now, the release of the first Harry Potter book happened without any fanfare. Only 500 hardcover copies of the U.K. first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone were printed. 20 years later, a first edition, first printing of Philosopher’s Stone is a very scarce book, indeed!

For several years, Rare Books and Special Collections at UBC Library has been trying to acquire one of these rare first U.K. editions to complete our collection of U.K., U.S., and Canadian Harry Potter first editions (it’s the only one we’re missing!) for our historical and canonical children’s literature collection. On July 20, UBC Library has an opportunity to acquire one of these very sought after copies at auction in London.

We’ve started a crowd-funding campaign to try to garner community support for the purchase so that this special book can be properly cared for and made publically accessible to Vancouverites for generations to come.

And if you’re in the Vancouver area and want to see unique and remarkable Harry Potter books, as well as “magical” antiquarian books, from Rare Books and Special Collections, we’ll have a display at the Orpheum Theatre on July 13, 14, and 15 in honour of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra’s screening and performance of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. In this display, we’re also delighted and proud to honour the role of Allan MacDougall, founder of Raincoast Books, for his significant role in bringing Harry Potter, and author J. K. Rowling, to Canada. Hope to see you there!

June 28th, 2017 by cIRcle staff | Comments Off on Open Access, Open Data, Open Education and more – June 2017 News Round-Up

Photo: Susan Parker Don Liebig / UCLA Photography

In the News: UBC and Abroad

UBC appoints new University Librarian – Susan E. Parker

“Being named University Librarian at UBC is an honour, and the highlight of my career,” says Susan Parker. “I look forward to partnering with UBC’s excellent library staff, students, and faculty as we continue to develop and deliver outstanding services, scholarly resource collections, and welcoming library facilities for the UBC community.”

Check out the new research management tool by The Federated Research Data Repository (FRDR). ‘A joint initiative led by the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) and Compute Canada provid[ing] Canadian researchers a place to deposit large data sets and to improve the discovery of Canadian research data’.

Beyond the Beyond: Can we Increase the Impact and Reach of Scholarly Research?

From stakeholders to voters, many folks are in need of greater access and transparency when it comes to research and research outcomes. As noted by Vicky Williams, “with increasing funder mandates for research to demonstrate broader impact – on society, policy, the economy, or the environment – research has to reach a broader audience.”

While OA has made strides over the years via open access repositories (in physics) and open access journals (in biomedicine), Peter Suber provides some insight on the “nine differences between the humanities and the sciences”.

Read the first and second of his blog posts from the new series on “Open Access in the Humanities” by Blog of the APA (The American Philosophical Association)

OpenCon affords a unique opportunity for “students and early career academic professionals from across the world” to learn about Open Access, Open Education, and Open Data” as well as to “develop critical skills, and catalyze action toward a more open system for sharing the world’s information—from scholarly and scientific research, to educational materials, to digital research data”.

The Open Education (OE) Global Conference is an “internationally diverse [one] devoted exclusively to open education, attracting researchers, practitioners, policy makers, educators and students from more than 35 countries to discuss and explore how Open Education advances educational practices around the world”.

______

New BCcampus Annual Review

BCcampus 2016/17 Annual Review

Highlights of faculty and instructor partnerships and projects on the future of post-secondary learning and teaching in British Columbia